MMSDCC Session 1 2015

Creating Community in the Classroom
MMSD Class: Winter 2015
Carla Hacker:
[email protected]
Kathy Hellenbrand:
[email protected]
Laurie Frank
[email protected]
Flow
 Foundations
 Creating
Conditions/Tools
 Facilitator
Knowledge
 Application
Foundations

Welcome/Introductions

Intentional Community Building




Ground Rules/Protocols/Non-Negotiables
Connections
Create Base Teams
What is a Sense of Community?


Creating a Framework
Working Definition
Foundations

Why Create a Sense of Community?



Creating a Sense of Community…




So Why Do We Do It?
Container Concept
Supports Learning
Fosters a Safe Environment
Is Experiential
Closing



Questions and Application
Reflection: Running Class Journal
Next Class: Artifact & Question
Ground Rules/Protocols/
Expectations/Goals
Non-Negotiables

External

Enforced

Safety

Respect
Protocols/Ground Rules
for CCC

Assume good intentions

Ouch/Oops
(Spinach in the teeth rule)

Right to Pass

Be Present

Confidentiality

Positive Behavioral
Interventions and
Supports (PBIS)

Avid

Advisory

Freshman Academy

Individual Learning
Plans (ILP)

RTI (Response to
Intervention)

Bullying prevention
programs (e.g.
Olweus)

2nd Step

Responsive Classroom

TRIBES

Above the Line

Restorative Practices (e.g.
Peace Circles)

Social Emotional Learning
(SEL)

Professional Learning
Communities
Disarming the
Playground

Stress/Challenge

Mission:
What is a Sense of Community?
From Group to Community
“In genuine community there are no sides. It is not always easy but
by the time they reach community the members have learned how
to give up cliques and factions. They have learned how to listen to
each other and how not to reject each other. Sometimes consensus
in community is reached with miraculous rapidity. But at other
times it is arrived at only after lengthy struggle. Just because it is a
safe place does not mean community is a place without conflict. It
is, however, a place where conflict can be resolved without physical
or emotional bloodshed and with wisdom as well as grace. A
community is a group that can fight gracefully.”
M. Scott Peck M.D.
The Different Drum: Community Making and Peace
Thomas Sergiovanni states that “the need for
community is universal. A sense of belonging, of
continuity, of being connected to others and to
ideas and values that make our lives meaningful
and significant -- these needs are shared by all of
us.”
“The people in one’s life are like the pillars
on one’s porch you see life through. And
sometimes they hold you up. And
sometimes they lean on you, and sometimes
it’s just enough to know they’re standing by.”
Anonymous
Community is consciousness of
connection, combining and comprising:
Courtesy, communication, collaboration,
cooperation, consideration, caring,
compassion, curiosity, commonalities,
common goals, confidence, creativity,
courage, challenge, camaraderie, and
conceivably chocolate.
CTC Group, 2004
“So why do we do it?
What good is it?
Does it teach you anything?
Like determination? Invention?
Improvisation? Foresight? Hindsight?
Love?
Art? Music? Religion?
Strength or patience or accuracy or
quickness or tolerance or
which wood will burn and how long is
a day?
And how far is a mile?
And how delicious is water and
smoky green pea soup?
And how to rely
on your
self?”
Terry and Renney Russell, On the Loose
“People and environments are never
neutral, they are either summoning
or shunning the development of
human potential.”
Purkey & Novak, Inviting School Success
See Invitational Education at
www.invitationaleducation.net
Examples of Tools

Community Meetings

Ropes Course Elements

Simulations

Activities

Wilderness trips

Rituals

Curriculum

Sharing/Talking circles
How do we Increase the Probability of
Helping and being Beneficial?
INVITATIONAL EDUCATION
INTENTIONALLY
UNINTENTIONALLY
INVITING
INTENTIONALLY
INVITING
UNINTENTIONALLY
INVITING
DISINVITING
INTENTIONALLY
DISINVITING
UNINTENTIONALLY
DISINVITING
“It is not from ourselves
that we will learn to be
better than we are.”
~ Wendell Berry
Maxine Greene, educational
philosopher, author, social activist,
and teacher
“… we are bombarded with messages about
“what is” and what “ought to be.” [This is a] …
“mystification or ‘surface reality,’ that many
people take for granted as objectively true.”
Maxine Greene, educational
philosopher, author, social activist,
and teacher
“To transcend the effects of mystification, it is
necessary to wake up to the world and start
seeing it from a variety of vantage points…
Humans have the unique “capacity to surpass
the given and look at things as if they could be
otherwise.”
CONTAINER CONCEPT
Not all Containers are Alike
We Have Choices…
We have Influence…
What are the qualities of your container(s)? How have
you & others felt/operated in healthy containers?
Unhealthy containers?
VISION
• AT PEACE
• CARING
• COMPASSIONATE
• CONFIDENT
• CONTRIBUTER
• CREATIVE
• CRITICAL THINKER
• EMPATHETIC
• EMPLOYED
• FORGIVING
• GET ALONG W/ OTHERS
• GOOD COMMUNICATOR
• GOOD PARENTS
• GOOD SELF ESTEEM
• RESOURCEFUL
• HAPPY
• RESPECT
• HEALTHY
• RESPONSIBLE
• HONEST
• INDEPENDENT • SELF RESPECT
• SELF SUFFICIENT
• INTEGRITY
• SENSE OF HUMOR
• LITERATE
• SUCCESSFUL
• LOYAL
• WELL-INFORMED
• MOTIVATED
• PATIENT
• PERSEVERENCE
• POSITIVE ATTITUDE
• PROBLEM SOLVERS
• PRODUCTIVE CITIZENS
• RELIABLE
• RESILIENT
Creating a sense of community…
SUPPORTS LEARNING
Learning &
emotions are
intertwined
(see amygdala)
Fight, Flight,
Freeze
inhibits
learning
Fear,
embarrassment,
frustration,
boredom…
…can trigger
fight, flight,
freeze
Supports Academic Learning
Safe, caring, and orderly environments are
conducive to learning.
Caring relations between teachers and students
foster a desire to learn and a connection to school.
When students can self-manage their stress and
motivations, and set goals and organize themselves,
they do better.
From: Zins, J.E., Weissberg, R.P., Wang, M.C., and Walberg, H.J, eds. (2004).
Building Academic Success on Social and Emotional Learning: What does the
research say? New York, NY: Teachers College Press.
CASEL Study*
… four-year study confirming that school-based
social and emotional learning programs that
help students build positive relationships,
develop empathy, and resolve conflicts respectfully and cooperatively also have a positive
effect on academic performance.
(from article by International Institute for Restorative Practices:
www.safersanerschools.org/library/caselstudy.html)
* Collaborative for Academic, Social and Emotional Learning
http://www.casel.org/downloads/metaanalysissum.pdf
Supports Social Emotional Learning (SEL)
See www.CASEL.org
How SEL Supports Good
Outcomes for Young People
Safe, Caring,
Challenging,
WellManaged ,
Participatory
Learning
Environments
Teach SEL
Competencies
• Self-awareness
• Social awareness
• Self-management
• Relationship skills
• Responsible
decision making
Greater
Attachment,
Engagement
& Commitment
to School
Less Risky
Behavior, More
Assets, More
Positive
Development
Better
Academic
Performance
and Success
in School
and Life
http://www.casel.org/downloads/Safe%20and%20Sound/2B_Performance.pdf
Creating a sense of community…
FOSTERS A SAFE LEARNING
ENVIRONMENT
Bullying – More than a label
“A student is being bullied or victimized
when he or she is exposed, repeatedly
and over time, to negative actions on
the part of one or more students.”
~ Dan Olweus
Social-Ecological Framework
•
•
•
•
Pain
Fear
Adult attitudes
School climate
Pre-Bullying
1. Behavior that, if escalated, could become bullying.
2. Norms that set the stage for bullying if the behavior
becomes intentional, consistent, and abusive (e.g.
sarcastic humor, put downs, unconscious and/or
unchallenged use of derogatory terms)
Maslow’s
Hierarchy
of Needs
Esteem
Belonging
Security
Retrieved from: http://two.not2.org/psychosynthesis/articles/maslow.gif
PBIS Continuum and PII Approach*
* Positive
Behavior
Interventions &
Supports and
Prevention,
Intervention ,
Invention
INVENTION
INTERVENTION
PREVENTION
APPLICATION: GRAPHIC ORGANIZER
CLOSING
Homework
• Bring an artifact that has meaning for you
• Write a question about what you would like to
explore regarding community building,
adventure ed., use of activities, or other topic
related to the class.
• Alone, in pairs, or in a small group – bring in
an activity, experience, or other way to create a
sense of community
“Education – true education is not a process
of pouring in from without, but of calling
forth what is within. It’s not a process of
memorization or socialization or instillation,
it’s a process of nurturing, of allowing, of
evoking. It’s a process of bringing forth the
person one is meant to be.”
~ Jeff White
For PowerPoint, activities, and
handouts:
www.goalconsulting.org